1844-1877

The first and last topics of each unit are just reviews so there are no note for them. These notes are based on Heimler History videos with some additions.

5.2 - Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny

Introduction

Westward expansion was a longstanding American impulse, driven by the desire to explore and settle new territories. In the mid-19th century, this impulse was given a name: Manifest Destiny.

Definition of Manifest Destiny

"The right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." - John O'Sullivan, 1845

Manifest Destiny was the idea that Americans had a God-given right to possess the entire continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.

Reasons for Westward Expansion

• Access to mineral and natural resources: The discovery of gold in California in 1848 sparked the California Gold Rush, attracting thousands of settlers.

• Economic and homesteading opportunities: The Preemption Acts of the 1830s and 1840s made large tracts of land available for cheap, attracting middle-class settlers.

• Religious refuge: Groups like the Mormons fled persecution in the Midwest and settled in the Utah Territory.

The Election of James K. Polk and Manifest Destiny

James K. Polk was a strong believer in Manifest Destiny. During his presidency, he sought to annex two territories: Texas and Oregon.

Texas and the Mexican Government

• Americans began settling in Texas, which was then part of Mexico.

• The Mexican government required immigrants to convert to Roman Catholicism and outlawed slavery.

• Americans ignored the new laws and continued to bring enslaved people into Texas.

• Mexico shut down the border to further immigration.

• Texas Revolution - Texans revolted against Mexican authority, led by Sam Houston, and declared independence.

• Mexico refused to recognize Texas' independence

The Oregon Territory

• Competing claims - Both the British and Americans claimed the Oregon Territory.

• American missionaries and farmers settled in the territory in greater numbers than the British.

• Polk's platform - James K. Polk campaigned on a platform of annexing Oregon and Texas.

• The United States and Britain agreed to divide the Oregon Territory at the 49th parallel.

5.3 - Causes of the Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War was caused by the annexation of Texas by the United States, which was a long-standing goal of the Texans. However, Mexico was not willing to concede defeat and saw the annexation as a reason to go to war.

Key Players:

• James K. Polk: President of the United States who campaigned on the annexation of Texas and made it a priority during his presidency.

• John Tyler: President of the United States who led the process to annex Texas, but only did so when he was on the way out of office and saw that the American people favored the move.

• John Slidell: Diplomat sent to Mexico City to negotiate the sale of land to the United States, including the New Mexico and California territories.

Causes of the War:

• The annexation of Texas by the United States

• The dispute over the southern border of Mexico, with the Mexican government claiming it was the Nueces River and the American government claiming it was the Rio Grande

• The refusal of Mexico to sell land to the United States, including the New Mexico and California territories

Events Leading to the War

• In 1845, President James K. Polk sent General Zachary Taylor with his troops to the Rio Grande to occupy the disputed territory.

• Mexican troops met them at the Rio Grande, resulting in the death of 11 American soldiers.

• President Polk used this as a pretext to declare war on Mexico, and Congress granted him one on May 13, 1846.

Effects of the War

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo:

• Established the Rio Grande as the southern border of Texas

• Outlined the deal for the Mexican Cession, in which Mexico ceded California and New Mexico to the United States for $15 million

• Led to the United States gaining a significant amount of land, which was a contentious issue

Wilmot Proviso:

• The Wilmot proposal was introduced by Congressman David Wilmot in 1846 that aimed to prevent the expansion of slavery into any lands gained from the Mexican-American War.

• The proposal was ultimately voted down, but it highlighted the growing tension over the slavery question

• The politicians who voted it down were not necessarily abolitionists, but rather believed in the ideal of free soil, which meant they wanted to acquire additional land for homesteaders to settle on without competition from the system of slavery.

Impact on Non-American People:

• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo granted U.S. citizenship to Mexicans living in the territory, but did not offer the same to Indians living there.

• Both groups faced an assault on their civil rights, including voter discrimination and educational segregation.

5.4 - The Growing Tension Over Slavery

The Debate Over the Expansion of Slavery

In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, the United States acquired a significant amount of new territory, which sparked a heated debate over the expansion of slavery into these new territories.

The Three Main Positions

There were three main positions on the expansion of slavery:

• Southern Position: Argued that slavery was a constitutional right and that the Missouri Compromise (1820) had already established where slavery could and could not exist. Southerners wanted to extend this line to the Pacific Ocean.

• Free Soil Movement: Wanted to ban slavery in new territories, but not necessarily because they thought slavery was morally wrong. Some Free Soilers envisioned these territories as a land of white opportunity, while others, like abolitionists, wanted to ban slavery everywhere.

• Popular Sovereignty: Believed that the people living in each territory should decide the slavery question for themselves.

The Importance of the Missouri Compromise

• The Missouri Compromise was a guarantee that slavery would continue to exist unharrassed below this line.

• For southerners, any attempt to curtail slavery was a move toward its entire destruction.

The Consequences of the Mexican-American War

• California and New Mexico entered the Union as free states, tipping the balance of power in the Senate towards the free states.

• This made it impossible for pro-slavery laws to pass, and potentially threatened the existence of slavery altogether.

The Need for Compromise

To prevent the breakdown of the Union, a compromise was necessary to mollify the Southern states.

The Compromise of 1850

• Proposed by Henry Clay, the Compromise of 1850 aimed to solve the slavery issue

  • Mexico Territory would be divided into the New Mexico and Utah territories

  • California would be admitted as a free state

  • Slave trade would be banned in Washington D.C.

  • There would be a stricter and more enforced fugitive slave law

• While the Compromise of 1850 calmed tensions temporarily, the Fugitive Slave Law would eventually break apart any calm that was achieved.

5.5 - Regional Conflict: Immigration and Slavery

Immigration and Nativism

• In the years prior to the Civil War, a large number of immigrants, mostly Irish and German, arrived in the United States seeking a new home. They settled in cultural enclaves, keeping alive their cultural customs, languages, and religion.

• Nativism: a policy of protecting the interests of native-born people against the interests of immigrants.

• The Know-Nothing Party was formed, opposing immigration and limiting immigrants' cultural and political influence.

Labor Systems

• The economies of the North and South were moving in dramatically different directions

• North had free wage laborers in factories

• South had enslaved labor on agricultural plantations

Free Soil Movement

The Free Soil Movement, later becoming the Free Soil Party, aimed to keep the lands gained by the Mexican Cession free of slavery. They did not want to abolish slavery in the South, but rather prevent its expansion into new territories.

Abolitionists

• The Abolitionists, a minority in the North, wanted to ban slavery entirely.

  • William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin were influential in the abolitionist community.

  • Frederick Douglass's abolitionist speeches were highly effective in conveying the message.

  • Assisting fugitive slaves: The Underground Railroad helped tens of thousands of enslaved people escape to the North and Canada.

  • Violence: John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry in 1859 aimed to ignite an armed rebellion against the slaveholding South.

• John Brown's connections to leading northern abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, led Southerners to believe that the abolitionists were plotting against them, further fracturing the regions.

5.6 - The Failure of Compromise

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

• In 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which divided the northern section of the Louisiana Purchase into two territories: Kansas and Nebraska.

• The act allowed each territory to decide by popular sovereignty whether to allow slavery or not.

• Popular sovereignty: the idea that the people living in a territory should decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

• This proposal enraged many Americans, especially those in the North, as it effectively overturned the Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36°30' line.

Bleeding Kansas

The decision to allow popular sovereignty led to violence in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups, known as Bleeding Kansas. The violence continued on and off for several years.

In 1855, a territorial legislature was elected in Kansas, but the election was marred by fraud. Thousands of pro-slavery Missourians flooded across the border and cast illegal votes, resulting in a pro-slavery government being established in Lecompton and an anti-slavery government in Topeka. President Franklin Pierce recognized the pro-slavery government as legitimate, further dividing the territory.

The Dred Scott Decision of 1857

In 1857, the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott Decision, which had massive consequences for the slavery question. Dred Scott, an enslaved man, sued for his freedom after being taken to live in free territory. The Court ruled against Scott, stating that:

• As a slave, Dred Scott was not a citizen and had no right to sue in federal court.

• The Constitution prohibits Congress from depriving citizens of property, which meant that slave owners could take their "property" (enslaved people) anywhere they wanted.

This decision effectively opened up all territories and states in the Union to slavery, further escalating tensions over the issue.

The Impact on Political Parties

• The increasing division over slavery weakened the two-party system.

• The Whig Party was the first casualty, dividing into pro-slavery Cotton Whigs and anti-slavery Conscience Whigs.

• The Democratic Party gained strength as a regional, pro-slavery party.

• However, the Republican Party was born in 1854, gathering a diverse group of folks under one banner, including former Know Nothings, abolitionists, free soilers, and Conscience Whigs.

• The Republicans did not advocate for the abolition of slavery, but rather argued that it should not be allowed to spread into new territories. Democrats saw the Republican Party as a fundamental threat to the institution of slavery.

• In 1858, the Republicans performed well in congressional races, deeply frightening Southerners who saw a Republican presidency as a threat to the South

5.7 - Election of 1860 and its Effects

The Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln

• The Republican Party, founded in 1854, was a newly formed party that opposed the expansion of slavery.

• Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Republican Party, ran on a free soil platform, which aimed to limit the spread of slavery into new territories, not abolish it where it already existed.

• Lincoln's goal was to prevent the expansion of slavery, not abolish it in the South.

The Divided Democratic Party

• The Democratic Party was divided between a northern faction and a southern faction.

• The northern faction, led by Stephen Douglas, advocated for popular sovereignty, allowing the people in each territory to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

• The southern faction, led by John Breckinridge, wanted a federal slave code to protect slavery in new territories.

The Election Results

• Abraham Lincoln - Republican

• Stephen Douglas - Northern Democrat

• John Breckinridge - Southern Democrat

• Lincoln won despite not getting a single electoral vote from the southern states, which scared them.

Lincoln's Victory and Southern Reaction

• Lincoln won the presidency without a single electoral vote from Southern states, a ominous sign for the Southerners.

• Despite Lincoln's promises not to abolish slavery, Southerners saw his election as a threat to their way of life and their political power.

Secession of Southern States

• In December 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, followed by six more states: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

• Later, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also seceded, forming the Confederate States of America.

5.8 - The American Civil War

Factors Contributing to the Union Victory

The Union's advantages

• Higher population

• More banks/money

• More railroads

• A better navy

• More defined central government

The South's advantages

• South only had to defend, not attack or invade the north.

• They had more experienced generals, like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

Mobilizing the Economy for War

The North:

• Manufacturers rapidly modernized their productive capacity

• Many future industrial leaders, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, got their start by manufacturing goods for the Union effort

The South:

• Relied mainly on tariffs and taxes on exports to raise revenue for the war

• However, this plan faltered with Union naval blockades

Opposition to the War

The South:

• The Confederacy introduced a war tax, but many states refused to fund this centralized effort

• "States' rights" ideology led to resistance to centralized government efforts

The North:

• The New York City Draft Riots in 1863

• Working-class men saw the draft as unfair, as the wealthy could pay $300 to avoid service

The Course of the War

Fort Sumter:

• A federal possession in Confederate South Carolina

• The South cut off supply lines, and Lincoln announced he would send provisions to the trapped Union troops

• The South fired on the Union suppliers, marking the start of the war

The First Battle of Bull Run:

• The first major battle of the war

• Confederate reinforcements arrived under the command of Stonewall Jackson, and the Union troops were sent into flight

• This battle disabused both sides of the idea that the war would be short and easy

Strategies and Key Battles

The Anaconda Plan:

A Union strategy that relied on the naval advantage to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, effectively splitting the Confederacy in half.

The Southern Strategy:

• Relying on foreign help, especially from Britain and France

• The Confederacy believed that "King Cotton" would convince these countries to come to their aid

• However, both countries discovered that India and Egypt could produce cotton, making King Cotton less powerful

Key Union Leadership and Strategy:

• The rise of generals like Ulysses S. Grant, who rarely retreated and pressed the Confederates hard into their own territory

• Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1862

The Emancipation Proclamation:

• The Emancipation Proclamation was more of A military strategy rather than a document of freedom.

• It freed enslaved people in the Confederacy, where Lincoln had no authority, but did not free them in the Border States, where he did have authority.

• It changed the scope of the war, making it about eradicating slavery in the United States.

Outcome of the War

The Union ultimately succeeded due to improvements in leadership and strategy, key battle victories, and the wartime destruction of the South's infrastructure.

The Turning Point of the American Civil War

The British government, who had recently abolished slavery, were unlikely to support the Confederacy once the war was cast as a fight against slavery.

Key Union Victories

• Battle of Vicksburg: The Union, led by General Grant, gained control of the Mississippi River, which split the Confederacy in two.

• Capture of Atlanta: General William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta and then went on to destroy the city's infrastructure.

• March to the Sea: Sherman's march from Atlanta to Savannah, where he destroyed railroads, crops, and land, making it impossible for the South to recover.

Devastation of Southern Infrastructure

• Scorched Earth Policy: Sherman's strategy of burning land and destroying crops to prevent the South from recovering.

• Destruction of Railroads: Sherman's destruction of railroads, which were essential for the South's economy and transportation.

The Union Naval Blockade

• Blockade of Southern Ports: The Union's naval blockade prevented the South from receiving supplies and support from Europe.

The Final Surrender

• Appomattox Courthouse: On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, marking the end of the American Civil War.

Note: The Union's success can be attributed to the combination of these key victories, the devastation of Southern infrastructure, and the success of the Union naval blockade.

5.9 - Leadership During the Civil War

Review of Emancipation Proclamation

• In the last video, we discussed Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which:

  • Freed enslaved people in the Confederacy

  • Did not free enslaved people in border states (slave states that remained in the Union)

  • Was a military tactic to cut off European diplomatic support for the South

  • Created an opportunity for enslaved people to escape to Union camps and even fight for the Union

Gettysburg Address

• Delivered on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery

• Speech reframed the purpose of the Civil War as a fight to end slavery and fulfill America's founding democratic ideals

• Lincoln's speech was relatively short, only 4 minutes long, and consisted of 10 sentences

5.10 - Reconstruction

Setting the Stage

The Civil War has ended, and the most crucial question that needed to be answered was: should the Confederacy be treated with leniency or as a conquered foe? The answer to this question determined the Reconstruction policies proposed by policymakers.

Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction

Abraham Lincoln was of the lenient persuasion. He believed that the South never actually left the Union because it was legally impossible for them to do so. Lincoln's plan, also known as the Ten-Percent Plan, established a minimum test of political loyalty for southern states to return to the Union. The plan required:

• 10% of the 1860 electorate to pledge loyalty to the Union • The state legislature to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery

Johnson's Presidency and the Rise of Radical Republicans

After Lincoln's assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President. Although he attempted to carry out Lincoln's plan, Johnson was not as magnanimous a leader as Lincoln. He stood by while the former slave-owning class assumed power and recreated conditions in the South similar to those before the war.

Meanwhile, a group of Radical Republicans in Congress opposed Johnson's leniency and complicity in resegregating the South. They wanted the process of Reconstruction to be led by Congress, not the President.

Key Legislation and Acts

• Freedman's Bureau - An agency set up to help newly freed black people get on their feet

• Civil Rights Act of 1866 - Protected citizenship of black people and gave them equal protection under the laws

• Fourteenth Amendment - Ensured that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens and enjoyed equal protection of the laws

• Reconstruction Acts of 1867 - Divided the South into five districts under military occupation, increased the requirement for the southern states to rejoin the union.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

"Impeachment is the trial which determines if a president should be removed from office, not the removal itself."

Congressional Republicans wanted Johnson out of office and passed the Tenure of Office Act of 1867, making it illegal for the President to fire a member of his cabinet without congressional approval. Johnson defied the act, and Congress brought an impeachment trial against him. Although the Senate failed to oust him by one vote, the process rendered Johnson powerless to direct future Reconstruction policies.

Women's Rights Movement and Reconstruction

The Fifteenth Amendment granted voting rights to the newly freed black population of the South, but women's rights advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were disappointed that it did not recognize the right of women to vote.

"The struggle for women's suffrage was not limited to the federal level. Women's rights advocates worked on the state level to achieve their goals."

Two organizations formed to fight for women's suffrage:

• National Woman Suffrage Association (Stanton and Anthony): Fought for the franchise to be extended to women • American Woman Suffrage Association (Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell): Supported Reconstruction efforts federally while working for women's suffrage on the state level

5.11 - Post-Civil War Reconstruction Failure

Southern Society and Economics

After the Civil War, the black population in the South had to adjust to their new reality of freedom. To gain independence from white control, they:

• Established black schools for their children and founded black colleges like Morehouse and Howard.

• Had some black men elected to various representative offices.

• Received assistance from the Freedmen's Bureau, which helped reunite families separated by slavery and arranged for their education and social welfare.

Despite these gains, the white population in the South created societal conditions that were similar to pre-Civil War slavery and segregation.

Sharecropping

• Sharecropping replaced the system of slavery, where black workers would agree to work the fields, but in order to have access to this gainful employment, they had to sign a contract that bound them perpetually to the plantation and gave plantation owners the right to extract unlimited labor from them.

• In the sharecropping system, land owners provided seeds and farm supplies to the worker in exchange for a share of the harvest. However, in practice, sharecropping turned into another form of coerced servitude that wasn't unlike slavery.

White Supremacy

The white population in the South believed in white supremacy, which led to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan (founded in 1867) and the establishment of Black Codes.

The Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan was organized to terrorize black people in the South, and its members:

• Burned buildings

• Controlled local politics through intimidation

• Perpetrated public and private lynchings of black people who refused to accept their place in the world.

Black Codes

• Black Codes were laws adopted by southern legislatures to codify the notion of white supremacy.

• They prevented black Americans from borrowing money, prevented black people from testifying against white people in court

• These laws restricted the freedom and rights of black people in the South.

The End of Reconstruction

The end of Reconstruction was marked by the Compromise of 1877, which was a result of the disputed presidential election of 1876 between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes.

The Compromise of 1877

The Compromise of 1877 was an agreement between Democrats and Republicans, where:

• Democrats agreed to concede the election to Hayes

• In exchange, all federal troops were removed from the South

This compromise led to the end of Reconstruction and the Democrats' domination of the South, creating an even bleaker reality for the southern black population.